JAGS Paper: Practice Standards for Acute Hospital Care at Home
The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS) has published a paper, "Practice Standards for Acute Hospital Care at Home," that presents the first national practice standards for Hospital at Home care.
Developed by the Hospital at Home (HaH) Users Group, the standards aim to guide consistent, high-quality delivery of hospital-level care in patients’ homes. The HaH User’s Group Practice Standards Council reviewed international models and US regulatory frameworks, incorporating expert feedback and public comment to develop evidence-based standards tailored to the American healthcare system.
The final framework includes 31 standards across key domains such as leadership, education and training, human resources, quality improvement, safe practice and environment, and clinical care protocols. In a national survey, 49 HaH programs assessed themselves against the standards, with "the vast majority" reporting that they met or exceeded expectations. These results reflect both the strength of existing HaH programs and the opportunity for continued growth in this rapidly expanding model of care.
As of October 2025, the Users Group Practice Standards Council has released an updated version of the Practice Standards for Acute Hospital Care at Home, originally published in 2023. The goal of this work is to support quality improvement for HaH programs and advance the standardization of HaH practice. The latest version includes 32 standards in seven domains. Request access to the Practice Standards 2.0.
original post 5/20/2025 updated 11/3/2025
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Go to the HaH Users Group website.
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